10" Walnut Bowl

This is a bowl I turned last night on a friend’s lathe. This is the first bowl I’ve turned using a vacuum chuck and can’t wait to be able to get one myself. It really makes it simple. One of the coolest things about the bowl is the fact that it was so rough cut that we couldn’t even tell it was figured. After getting it turned, I sanded to 400 and applied a sanding sealer / danish oil mixture. Waited for about 20 minutes then hit it with some 4/0 steel wool. I will wait till the spring / summer to lacquer it as I need it to warm up a bit I think. Thanks for looking!

-- "There's plenty of time to read the instruction manual when you're laying in the hospital bed". - Dad

Awesome turning with great figuring. I also have only used the vacuum chuck on a friend’s lathe, and I am looking at getting a vacuum system myself, but it costs almost as much as what I paid for my lathe.

Thanks, guys. Lou_S, I’m in the same boat as you. Kinda hard to justify, but it was SOOO easy. Chris, his vacuum is actually a old 2 cow milk pump, but it provides an excellent vacuum and was a great deal. As far as everything else with the system goes, there is a guy locally that makes / sells everything you would need for your system. www.jtturningtools.com . Really nice guy. He’s a smaller operation, so he actually cares :-)

-- "There's plenty of time to read the instruction manual when you're laying in the hospital bed". - Dad

It looks like you got a nice piece of crotch wood (where two branches join together). Very nice job.

If you want to put the final finish on your bowl sooner than July I suggest you get some General Salad Bowl finish or Behlen’s Salad bowl finish. I prefer the latter. Then using a high quality paper towel (Viva type), or a soft disposable cloth wipe the finish on. After it dries buff it lightly with your 4/0 steel wool and in a similar manner apply two to four more coats. There is not a lot of odor so you can do it in the house. You will have a food safe finish that will last for years. Danish oil is probably food safe but it doesn’t say so on the label. Be sure it dries thoroughly (10 days or so) before applying the salad bowl finish.